Amazon has now shut its wholesale distribution business, Amazon Distribution, which was available in Karnataka’s Bengaluru, Hubli and Mysore
Days after closing down its food delivery and online learning platform businesses, Amazon has now shut its wholesale distribution business — Amazon Distribution. The business operates at Bengaluru, Hubli and Mysore in Karnataka.
“As part of our annual operating planning review process, we have made the decision to discontinue Amazon Distribution, our wholesale e-commerce website for small neighbourhood stores around Bengaluru, Mysore and Hubli,” Amazon India said in a statement.
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Apart from its wholesale e-commerce website for parts of Karnataka (Amazon Distribution), Amazon also has a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplace (Amazon Business), which continues to run.
Amazon India said that it will discountinue this programme (Amazon Distribution) in a phased manner to take care of current customers and partners and that it will support the affect employees during this transition.
Amazon Distribution was to supply goods such as groceries and stationery to local Kirana stores, and was operational in three cities in Karnataka — Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Hubali. According to its website, Amazon Distribution offers a wide range of products at competitive prices and the convenience of next day delivery at your door-step. “As a member, you can purchase thousands of items for resale at any time of the day at competitive prices and in bulk quantities, pay via the various payment options available, get GST bill for your order, and convenient and reliable door-step deliveries the next day,” its website said.
Amazon in its statement said the company continually evaluates the progress and potential of products and services to deliver customer value and makes adjustments based on those assessments.
It also added that it remains committed to the Indian market and will continue to invest across grocery, smartphones and consumer electronics, fashion & beauty, as well as B2B offerings such as Amazon Business. Amazon Business is a B2B marketplace where third-party sellers sell only to business customers, which continues to be operational.
Amazon recently decided to shut down its food delivery business, Amazon Food, in India from December 29. “This decision means that you will no longer get orders from customers via Amazon Food after this date. You will continue to receive orders till then and we expect you to continue fulfilling those orders,” according to a mail by sent Amazon to restaurant partners. Amazon Food was launched in May 2020.
Last week, Amazon also decided to shut down its online education platform, Amazon Academy, for high-school students in India. The company did not cite any reason for the shutdown of the edtech platform, Amazon Academy, in less than two years of its launch.
The move to shut the businesses comes after Amazon India also started layoffs. The e-commerce giant has started laying off employees across the company amid an “unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environment” and plans to cut 10,000 or 3 per cent of its workforce. Its CEO Andy Jassy has also said Amazon will continue to cut jobs into 2023 as it adjusts to business conditions and the decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organizations early in 2023.
